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Carter Appeals Statutory Rape Sentence

53 year old Gary Marshall Carter, sentenced last month on a charge of statutory rape, has filed a notice of appeal of the judgment to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.

Criminal Court Judge Leon Burns Jr., on September 25th, denied Carter's request for judicial diversion and ordered Carter to serve nine months of a two year sentence and then be on probation for a total of four years.

The charge stems from an alleged incident dating back to the Spring of 2005 and involves a girl who was under the age of 18 at the time.

Carter had entered a plea at an August hearing but filed the request for judicial diversion hoping to avoid any jail time.

As part of the sentence, Carter was required to submit to the Sexual Offender Registration and Monitoring Act and he is now listed on the TBI Sexual Offender Registry.

On Tuesday, October 24th , Carter filed a $50,000 appearance/surety bond and will apparently be free pending the disposition of the appeal.

Sheriff Patrick Ray says he was approached Monday night by Carter's attorney Hilton Conger asking if the Sheriff would agree to a work release program for Carter, subject to the court's approval, so that Carter could keep his job at the county landfill.

Sheriff Ray told Conger he would not agree to such a request due to the seriousness of the offense and due to the fact that the Sheriff's Department has no work release program.

Sheriff Ray said he also turned down Conger's request to make Carter a trusty at the jail. Sheriff Ray says he told Conger that he doesn't permit convicted sex offenders to be trusty's .